What The Hell is a Jellicle Cat?
by TheVoiceOfTheJellicles
Summary: When Emily Stranden moves from her hometown of Melbourne, to the exciting streets of London to pursue her theatre career, there are bound to be a few bumps in the road. However, when Emily's room mate, Maddie goes missing, her other room mate, Sarah and her go looking for her and stumble upon a strange, seemingly abandoned Junkyard...
1. Chapter 1

What the _Hell_ is a Jellicle Cat?

 **New fanfic! I've had this idea in the back of my head for a while now… and I'm on a plane so… why the heck not? I'm not gonna give away any spoilers! HA** _ **HA**_ **! You shall never know if you don't read on…**

Emily stared out the aeroplane window, at the fading lights that dotted the city leading towards distant skyline. As the plane climbed higher into the jet black sky, the lights slowly became less defined, turning from the tops of buildings into orange stars, matching the inky blackness that was the night sky.

Emily snapped her head back to reality. She stared at the obnoxiously bright computer that sat in front of her. All that was featured on the screen was a totally blank _Word_ document and the cursor that was taunting both her and the fact that she had literally _no_ ideas.

Emily was… kind of a writer. _Technically_ , she had published her stories but… the characters weren't exactly original. Okay, she wrote fanfiction. Don't judge. She prided herself in the fact that she wrote fairly good ones. If fanfiction was treated like movies, she'd be like… Anna Kendrick. Maybe Helena Bonham-Carter. Famous. Basically, she was respected amongst the fanfic community.  
She mainly wrote _Harry Potter_ fanfic, though she started testing the waters with her _CATS_ fanfic, which was fairly well received.

Emily liked musical theatre. Correction: She _loved_ musical theatre. She had been several professional shows in her home country, Australia, though she knew that if she wanted to make it big, she'd have to move to the big leagues.

London.

The West End was where it was at. Of course, she could have moved to New York to join the Broadway scene, but she couldn't stand the thought of people flooding the streets day and night. Eww.

So London it was. Moving into a semi–small apartment with two girls she chatted to over _Skype._ Their names were Maddie and Sarah and they seemed nice enough.

Emily sighed as she stared back out the plane window, resting her arm on the arm rest. Unfortunately, she slammed her elbow right onto a formidable looking man in a blue top that read ' _That's My Spot_ ' and had a red tinted _Sheldon_ from the TV show _The Big Bang Theory_ on it. He gave her a dirty look and returned to his book that was in a completely foreign language and had an image of a single tree surrounded by black on the cover.

Emily checked her mint green 'going away present' watch and inwardly groaned; three more hours. Three more hours of babies crying, people snoring and Emily waiting for an idea to come. Em rolled her eyes and closed then them, praying for the impossible on a plane; sleep. A mythical beast that Em was yet to conquer.

None the less she closed her eyes and rested for the longest three hours of her life.

x-X-x

Emily watched as the world came slowly towards her and felt the comforting bump of the plane hitting the earth. Just yesterday, she had been sitting in her old home, anxiously waiting for the taxi to take her to the airport. Though Emily had been overseas many times, this was the first when she didn't know when she was coming back, or if she would at all.

As soon as Emily reached the inside of the airport, she was smacked in the face by a gust of cold wind, no doubt from an air conditioner that was on full blast.

Emily collected her baggage and stood outside in the crisp cool air. Maddie and Sarah said that they would pick her up from the airport. Em hoped they were true to their word.

Sure enough, a bright blue Mercedes Benz pulled up in front of her. The driver rolled down their window to reveal Maddie, with her obnoxiously pink hair, tied up in a bun. She had a cropped, fluffy, red jumper on, and low rise jeans as if she was trying to make sure that anyone who saw her, also saw her midriff. Sarah, who was sitting in the back, had stark white hair. Nothing else. Bright white. She was decked in about as much _Harry Potter_ merch as one person could manage. She had a Gryffindor Quidditch team jumper top on, Marauder's Map style leggings, Deathly Hallows earrings, a time turner, a golden snitch pocket watch, a Weasly style watch that didn't _actually_ tell the time, a Gryffindor scarf, a _Wingardium LeviOsa_ bag and a pair of Luna Lovegood glasses. All Emily could mutter was 'Jesus'. Sarah hoped out of the car, to help Em with her bags. When I say help, Sarah just did everything.

"Welcome to London!" Maddie cheered from the driver's seat. Emily muffled a thank you as Sarah guided her into the car. As soon as they were on the highway, Emily was bombarded with questions.

"Do you like dancing?" Sarah said, rather quickly,

Emily coughed, "Yeah. I used to dance every night in my home town."

"What about singin'?" Maddie asked, not unlike a journalist.

"Love it."

"YE-ESS!" Maddie shouted, pulling her fist from the roof of the car to level with her cheekbone. Clearly, Maddie liked singing a lot.

"So what kinda dance did you do?" Sarah questioned.

"Oh, I did contemporary, ballet, jazz, tap and hip hop. If I wasn't at school, or sleeping, I was basically in the studio."

"Whoa!" Maddie exclaimed. "We have got to get you to come to our dance studio. It's like two doors down from our apartment. We can head there after we unload your stuff if you want. I'm sure Zac or someone is still there. Class would have ended… actually, I think it's just started."

"Sounds… lovely." Emily said awkwardly, unsure of what else to say.

x-X-x

Soon enough, the blue Mercedes Benz pulled up in front of a small, dark red, brick building. Aside from the cream coloured details around the windows, which were about as tall and wide as she was, there was nothing but a dark green door. Even the door lacked detailing. Just a green knocker and a golden doorknob.

Emily stepped out of the car and instantly felt very small. Maddie was about a head taller than she was and Sarah was head and a half. Basically, she was tiny. She looked up at the other two girls, who looked down at her and laughed.

"Hey, Kitten!" They cheered as they went to the back of the car, to get Emily's stuff. Em rolled her eyes. Yet another annoying, tiresome and not to mention sticky nickname. Her small stature generated a numerous number of dumb names, from _Ankle-Biter_ to _Ducky_. Especially _Ducky_. Emily shuddered at those creepy bastards that would hit on her and call her names. God it's creepy.

"Hey!" Sarah called, "You comin' or what?"

Emily chased after Sarah and Maddie, who were both already inside the doorway. Emily ran straight after them.

After climbing a long flight of stairs, Emily heaved herself onto the landing, panting lightly.

"You okay?" Maddie asked as she slipped her key into the lock.

"Yeah… just… fine." Em spluttered, "I promise… I'm not… really this… unfit. I've just… had… a long day."

Sarah laughed. "Yeah… we know."

The room that they opened out to clearly what was the living room. There was a semi – small TV on a stand, with obscure DVDs in the glass cabinet below it. It sat on the far wall, which was a nice, light grey colour, which was facing a dark blue, leather couch, with yellow pillows. The living room led off to the right to a quaint kitchen. There was an old series of appliances which clearly meant that Maddie and Sarah didn't ' _cook_ ' so to speak often. The benches and cupboards were a dark oak wood and the tiles were a dark aqua green colour. On the left of the living room, is a corridor, with two doors. Clearly one was for the bathroom and the other was for our bedroom, which they were sharing… apparently.

Emily chose to go straight to her new room. She dragged her suitcase over the dark red carpet that lined the entire floor. She opened the door. The room was all white. There were three beds all lined up in a neat row. One of those had Maddie's name on it and another had Sarah's name on it. Maddie's bed had a light purple doona with a white and black quilt. Sarah's bed was black with a golden yellow quilt. The last bed was closest to the window and furthest from the door. It was red with a light green quilt.

Emily set her suitcase down on the end of the bed. She flopped down onto the bed, feeling its comfort. She closed her eyes, sunlight shimmering on her face, warming her whole body.

Maddie opened the door to their room and immediately shut it again. She stepped back out into the living room, where Sarah was preparing a raspberry lemonade shandy.

"Looks like we won't be taking her to dance today." Maddie said.

"Why?" Sarah asked.

"Because she's already asleep."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1: The Jellicle Ball

 **Welcome to the new chapter of '** _ **What the Hell is a Jellicle Cat?'**_ **What is up? I'm writing this as I re- watch '** _ **What's New Pussycat'**_ **and crying. #Memory! This is a brand new** _ **MORE CATLIKE**_ **chapter! Well, kind of. Now, without further ado (I think)…**

Chapter 1: The Jellicle Ball

Emily sat up in her bed. Bright sunlight was streaming down onto her bed. Em groaned. It was too bright. Emily rolled over. Both Sarah and Maddie were already up. _No point lying here._ Emily thought. She rolled slowly onto her back and got up. She crossed to her calendar and crossed off the fourteenth day. _Fourteen days._ She thought. _Two weeks since I moved. Almost incredible. It already feels like a lifetime._

She pulled her galaxy running pants and her _Nike_ running top. She plugged her headphones into her iPod Shuffle and slipped it onto the top of her pants, ready to go for a jog.

Emily brushed her teeth and jumped out the door, suddenly full of energy. She passed the coffee shop. She passed the local pub. She ran through Russel Square and up to the majestic Russel Hotel. Emily jogged on the spot and stared up at the Hotel. This was her routine. She always felt herself being pulled towards the hotel. There was just something about it.

Emily jogged back past the coffee shop, where she bought a latte for Maddie, a flat white for Sarah and a spinach, apple and ginger smoothie for herself, for breakfast. When she arrived, Maddie was sitting on the couch and Sarah was standing by the table, a fat envelope in her hand.

"Hey guys," Emily called. Maddie stood up and beckoned her over. Sarah, who didn't say anything placed the fat envelope in Emily's hands. Slowly and tentatively, Emily opened the envelope.

They were theatre tickets.

"We know you're a huge musical theatre fan…" Maddie said "So we thought we would go to see a show tonight."

Emily turned the tickets over, showing the title of the show. She nearly dropped the tickets. They were for CATS, a show Emily deeply cared about. Needless to say, she was ecstatic.

 **SEVERAL LONG HOURS LATER**

Emily was practically jumping at the door until it was time to leave. Maddie and Sarah had tried numerous times to calm her down, but nothing seemed to work. Emily was shaking, pacing, checking the clock about a thousand times, and had been fully dressed for an hour.

When Maddie and Sarah finally got up to go, Emily raced down the stair and was waiting, anxiously outside the car. Maddie rolled her eyes as she unlocked the car door. Emily bounced up and down in her seat, even though Sarah told her many times stop because it was annoying. They pulled up outside the London Palladium. It was fully adorned in Jellicle decorations.

Em took her seat on the aisle. Maddie and Sarah sat a seat away from her. An older boy, about 25-ish years old sat beside Em. She looked over at this guy that had just come to sit next to her. He wore a t-shirt with a tuxedo design on it and black pants. He had black hair and incredibly pale skin. His features were defined and in the light he was sitting in, he looked like he had a black cat nose. He had thick, black eyebrows that flipped up at the ends. Sarah looked down at him in slight annoyance.

"Emily, this is my brother Misto-Mister Zac. Sorry, I don't English today, but this Mister Zac."

Zac laughed. "She calls me that when I wear this top." Zac looked down at his sister and he looked like she told Emily his best kept secret. He looked like he was about to hiss something at her, but he was cut off by the sound of a voiceover person telling everyone politely to shut up and turn their phones off.

Zac rolled his eyes and stared straight at the stage as cats slowly filled it, though he looked as though the actors were his mortal enemies. Emily, however, enjoyed the show immensely and could feel herself marking the whole thing.

Once the show was over, Emily had screamed herself hoarse from the applause. Maddie leaned over to Em and whispered "I'm gonna head to the bathroom. I'll meet you guys by the car."

Maddie then got up and was gone far too quickly. Sarah jumped up and practically dragged Zac and Emily back to the car.

"I hate Maddie!" Sarah cried as she slammed the car door. Zac also looked furious.

"W-what did she do?" Emily asked nervously. They all looked happy during the show.

"She said that the white queen in the show was annoying and she didn't like her! And she said that Mr Mistofellees' song was redundant and pointless."

Zac made a scoffing noise and crossed his arms. "That b*tch." He muttered.

"A-are those like your favourite characters?" Emily asked.

Sarah and Zac shared a knowing look. "Yes." They both said at the same time.

"Anyway," Sarah said, changing the subject, "Where is Maddie? She said she was going to the bathroom, but she shouldn't have taken this long."

Emily folded her arms. "We'll check on her later. Maybe five minutes."

Five minutes passed and there was no sign of Maddie. Zac and Sarah kept exchanging nervous looks that continued to annoy Emily. Especially when she asked Maddie and Zac what was up and got no reply but another nervous glance. Suspense was eating at Sarah and both Zac and Emily could tell. Aside from the glances, Sarah's palms gleamed with sweat, and sideways glances at the door from which Maddie should have exited. Suddenly, she cracked.

"Alright!" Sarah cried, "I have had it! I'm going to see where in the Heaviside Maddie has snuck away to." This outburst got another nervous glance from Zac, particularly on the word 'Heaviside'.

"Em, you're coming with me." Sarah said as she lept out the car door. She slammed the door as Emily got out. Sarah then leaned into the car and said to Zac,

"You stay here."

Sarah stormed off, back into the Palladium, Emily sprinting after her. They found the girl's bathroom and slowly opened the door.

"Hello?" Emily called. No reply.

"Maddie?" Sarah said. Nothing.

"Maddie!" Emily shouted, "This isn't funny! Where are you?"

Slowly, Sarah and Emily crept into the bathroom. All the stalls were empty, their door swinging lazily on their hinges. Sarah began investigating the first stall.

Emily's eyes caught something rather strange. The last stall door was hanging slightly off its hinges. On further investigation, Emily found four, long, jagged scratches on the door. Another thing was that the door had been completely ripped off its hinges and was hanging askew.

"Sarah!" Emily called, "Come here!" Sarah was at her side in an instant. She gasped at the sight of the door.

"Wh-what happened?" Sarah asked.

"I don't know for sure," Emily replied, "But it looks like someone wanted to get to whoever was in this stall. Go get Zac. I don't know who was in this stall, but I have hunch."

Sarah dashed off, back to the car.

Emily stayed, frozen where she was until Zac and Sarah arrived. Zac stopped dead at the sight of the stall door.

Emily, finally, plucked up the courage to open the stall door. Inside was nothing short of horrifying. It was a mess. Toilet paper was flung everywhere, and scratches decorated the walls like a horrific wallpaper. There was also a suspicious red liquid smeared everywhere. Sarah began to gag at the sight and Emily's eyes filled with tears. Slowly, she bent down and picked up a small clump. On further investigation, Sarah and Emily discover that it was bright pink hair, ripped violently from someone's head.

"Guys…" Came Zac's voice. "The mirror."

Emily and Sarah turned and looked at the mirror, staring at the strange language that was written on it.

"It's… it's German." Emily muttered. Sarah and Zac looked at Em.

"Can you read it?" Zac asked hopefully.

"I-I'll try." Emily squinted at the text on the bathroom mirror. "Umm… let's see… hang on! Macavity, Macavity, gibt es niemand, wie Macavity. Denn er ist ein Teufel in Katzen-Form, ein Monster von Verderbtheit. Sie können ihn in einer Nebenstraße treffen Sie ihn auf dem Platz sehen kann.Aber wenn ein Verbrechen entdeckt, dann ist Macavity nicht da!"

"Great!" Sarah cried sarcastically, "You can read it, what does it say?"

"Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity. For he's a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity. You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square. But when a crime's discovered then Macavity's not there! It's from _Macavity the Mystery Cat_. Someone seems to be making a really cruel joke."

That was followed by another nervous glance from Zac and Sarah.

"Guys!" Zac then shouted "Follow me! If someone has taken Maddie, they couldn't have just taken her through the lobby. Therefore…" He then gestured to an opened window. Both Sarah and Emily then exchanged the nervous glance and jumped out the window. As soon as they were outside, footprints were spotted. They were clearly Maddie's because they started right at the window. Emily, Zac and Sarah followed the footprints and other clear signs of Maddie's fleeting presence until well after midnight. Emily not once looked up to see where they were and just kept her eye on the clues. The sooner they found Maddie, the sooner they could go home, which was pretty enticing in the cold weather. All of a sudden the footprints just ended.

"Zac! Maddie!" Emily shouted "Look, the footprints just stopped!" She got no reply. She swore in her head and looked up. Instead of being in the winding streets of London, she was instead surrounded by piles upon piles of rubbish, which spread out for seemingly miles. Emily looked around, but could see no sign of Zac, Sarah, or human life of any kind.

"What the hell?" Emily muttered.

As if on cue, Emily heard an annoyed, feline yowl. She looked down in front of her. Two cats were seated on the ground. One was a tuxedo with piercing green eyes. The other was all white with blue eyes. She heard another yowl and saw a silver and black tabby padding toward her, a gold and black tabby, trailing closely behind. Out of the corner of her eye, Em saw a sleek, Siamese cat, followed closely by a black and white bi-coloured tom. It seemed out of every crack and crevice of the rubbish tip, a cat was appearing. Soon more than twenty cats were seated in front of her. Then the black and white cat, raised its paws at her.

Suddenly, the Junkyard around her began to grow. The cats around her as well seemed to grow bigger, but they also began to morph into human-esque shapes, like a cat was put into a human mould. There was a loud crack and Emily was covered in a thick layer of soot that also clouded her vision. She fanned the smoke away and saw that the tuxedo, that was now human-like and vaguely familiar, was coughing and hacking from all the smoke and all the soot he had caused.

"Sorry *cough* about that." He wheezed, "I really *cough* should have *cough* warned you first."

"Warned me about what?" Emily questioned, "Where am I?"

The tuxedo opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by another tom's voice.

"That's enough."

It was the silver and black tabby. "Greetings, Emily. I am Munkustrap, welcome to the Jellicle Junkyard."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2: A stranger you already knew…

 **Hello. Sorry I haven't written in ages. I had family over, then it was Halloween and I'm an actor in a house and I was shattered. But I'm here now. Welcome to this chapter. I don't know what else to say. I mean, this is a continuation chapter so… no Explanation Time. No nothin'. So without further ado (I think)…**

Chapter 2: A stranger you already knew…

Emily stepped back a second.

"M-Munkustrap?" she stuttered and the silver tabby nodded. "You're a silver tabby, with black stripes and your name is Munkustrap." The tabby nodded again. Then, Emily laughed.

"Oh yeah!" She laughed, "What? Is there a Jellylorum too? How about a Bombalurina?" She heard an annoyed cough behind her. A slender, red queen was lounging lazily on a gold and black Maine Coon.

" _I_ " she hissed at Emily, "Am Bombalurina."

Emily flinched and stepped back slightly. "Jesus…" she muttered.

When she got over the red queen's venom in her voice, she turned back to Munkustrap. "So… why am I here?" she asked.

"Well… Vic and Quax brought you here." Munk replied briefly. Em shook her head. _No straight answers with this lot apparently._

"Look, I like being here. I'm not afraid to say that this used to be my dream, but as Sa- Victoria and Quaxo would know, our roommate Maddie has gone missing. I _would_ like to stay and chat, but I'd rather know, Maddie is alive and safe. You get what I mean. I mean, you wouldn't want to be stuck in a cage, while Demeter was left in Macavity's den, would you?"

Munk hissed and Emily immediately regretted her words. Apparently she'd hit a nerve. "That would be different!" Demeter hissed as she clung to Munk's arm. Emily raised her eyebrows.

"Well…" she said after a moment of awkward silence, "Do tell."

"W-we…" Demeter stammered, "M-Munk…" She couldn't find the right words. Her eye were tearing. She broke into silent sobs, hiding her face in her mate's arm.

"It would be different," Munkustrap intervened "Because that would mean that I would have lost everything. You've just lost a friend. I've already lost my daughter. How hard would it be if I lost my mate as well?"

Emily took a step back. She scanned the area. She could tell all the cats were there from Etcetera to Jennyanydots. But one certain, rusty black kitten was noticeably missing.

"Wait… where's Jemima?" Em asked innocently. At that point, Demeter's sobs got volume. Her cries weren't even soft, sad sobs. They were howls of heartbreaking agony. Munk looked at his distressed mate and motioned for Em to come with him in his den. Emily sat down awkwardly on his makeshift couch. Demeter went to the kitchen, her sobs still barely audible. Munk sat opposite Emily.

"Look, before I tell you anything, J-Jemima is a sensitive topic. Especially for me and Demeter, so I wouldn't go around talking about her if I were you. You saw Demeter's reaction."

As if on cue, Demeter started sobbing loudly.

"So… several years ago, Quaxo and Jemima… they were together. Mates. Jemima… she was watching Quaxo practise his magic. And a spell went wrong… and Jemima was just… gone. We didn't had, and still don't have any idea, where she went. Quaxo was so upset. So… he, along with Vic has spent the last few years searching for her. He said chances are she would be in human form. And he would bring her home. Maybe she would have some sort of flashback. They never did. All those girls. The first few were so promising. After a while, they got tiring. Most of us have given up hope. She's gone. Past the Russel Hotel. Past the Jellicle Moon. To the Heaviside Layer." Munkustrap seemingly finished. Emily stared at him.

"I-I-I'm sorry." Emily muttered.

"Now there's you." He continued, "Quaxo thinks that you could be Jemima. Do I believe it?" he laughed "I wish I did."

Emily stood.

"Th-that's why I'm here. The hope that I could be some missing kitten that most of you assume is already dead. Really? Well, sorry to burst your bubble. I'm not. I'm Emily Stranden. I'm from Melbourne, Australia. I have a mother, a father, a half-sister and a temper like a bull. I'm head-strong, sometimes arrogant and I don't like being called something I'm not. I'm not sweet. I'm not a little ball of sugar and sunlight. And most of all… the most damning piece of evidence… I'M NOT A SOPRANNO!"

It was Munkustrap's turn to stand.

"Look, Emily," but he was cut off.

"Don't 'Look Emily' me, asshole!"

"Emily," he tried again, more force in his voice, "The spell, we don't know what it did to Jemima. She may have changed in certain ways."

"No." Emily cut him off again. "No. Okay. I'm not Jemima. You say you don't know what happened to her. I think you do know, and you're just afraid to say. Well, Munkustrap. Sorry if this hurts but, Jemima is dead. She's gone and she's never coming back! So stop trying for force Jem's life on some poor, unsuspecting girls! Because I know how it feels and I can tell first-hand, it's not a great feeling!" Emily's tone calmed a bit, "I know it must hurt, but the tribe has clearly been treating emotional wound like it's not even there. Accept it's there and heal it. Pretending like it's not there, will only make it hurt more when you do treat it. So get out you emotional first-aid kit," then Emily took on a bit of sass, "And do the damn thang."

Munkustrap looked down at the ground.

"Please," he whispered "Just let us try and train you. Just let us try. If you are right, we'll send you home and we won't bother you anymore. The issue will be laid to rest. But please. Give us one last chance. One last glimmer of hope. Please…."

Emily pondered this for a moment.

'Ummm… If it means I get stay in the Junkyard… oh, what the hell. Fine!"

A smile broke across Munk's face, revealing a set pearly white fangs.

"OH!" Emily called, "One condition!"

"Anything," Munk promised,

"Help me find Maddie."


End file.
